The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained after a shaky start of the week, as technology stocks found their footing following last week’s AI-sparked selloff, while investors waited for key economic data that could shed light on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path.
Alphabet is looking to raise about $15 billion from a U.S. high-grade dollar bond sale. Technology firms are turning to debt sales worth tens of billions of dollars to fund infrastructure expansions as demand for artificial intelligence workloads surges.
The Bitcoin network mining difficulty, a metric tracking the relative challenge of adding new blocks to the Bitcoin ledger, fell by about 11% within 24 hours, the worst drop in a single adjustment period since China’s 2021 ban on crypto mining.
Gold rebounded and notched a weekly gain, helped by bargain hunting, a slightly weaker dollar and lingering concerns over U.S.-Iran talks in Oman, while silver recovered from a 1-1/2-month low.
Indian refiners are avoiding Russian oil purchases for delivery in April and are expected to stay away from such trades for longer, refining and trade sources said, a move that could help New Delhi seal a trade pact with Washington.
The Canadian dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart as investors grew risk averse, but the move was limited after Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem pushed back against prospects of additional interest rate cuts to support the economy.
